Improvement in hollow-headed



L F. KEELER.

Scale- Beam,

Patented June. 9, 1868.

jrzvfifflf N. PETERS, PHOmUTNoGmPuEiL WASHINGTON, D C.

JOEL KEELER, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

Letters Patent No. 78,748, dated am '9. 1868.

IMPROVEMBN I HOLLOW-BEADED souseams,

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TO ALL wHoM'iT MAY. CONCERN:

Be it known that I, Jon F. KEELEB', of the city of hittsburg, county-ofAllegheny, and Stateoi' Pennsyl- Vania, have invented a new and improvedMode of Constructing"Hollow-Headed Scale-Beams, and of adapting them toplatform scalesj 'audI do hereby'declare that the 'followiiw' is a-fulland exact description thereof,

reference being h'adito the accompanying drawings; and to the letters ofreference-marked tbcreon.. I The nature of my invention consists inconstructing hollow-headed scale-beams in such a manner that, ;while theweight and the fulcrum are brought near to eahh other, they arenevertheless kept on separate pivots, held firmly in their 's espe'ctiveplaces, and in constructing platform-scales so as to rest 'the fulcraofthe main beams on fixed bearings, while, at the same time, suspendingthe weight on platform-b'earings that-oscillate, or viceversa. I p I Toenable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe its'con'st-rue tion and operation. I v

I make my beam'sa-nd scales in anyknown form, and of any known materialor combination thereof; but I usually prefer to make them partly of castand partly of wrought iron, with caststeelpivots and bearings, Thus, Imake my beam, a, with a. hollow head, so called because .of the space,a. a a a, in it, in which the link-bearerf hangs. I) is an adjustablepiece, holding the minor pivot d suspended in the link c. t is thepivot, on which the article to be weighed usually hangs by means of theplatform female hearing or linkfand the link-bea'rerf. I dis the steelpivot, usually forming the fulcrum of the lever. This s'teel pivotissupported, throughout its entire len'gth,by a cast-iron projection, d,which projection holds the steel pivot, after the pivot is filed,fitted, and hardened; firmly in its place. The linkf, in theli-nk-beurerf', 'is usually made, of cast iron,

with a steel female bearing cast into it, though frequently of wroughtiron andsteel, and hardened, and hangs by the link-pin 1'", which pinpasses through thelink-bearerf, and through a hole in the"li nk,socountersunk on each side as to permit it to oscillate freely on thatpin in any direction. These oscillations are shown by the red lines o 0,Figure Hollow-headed scale-beams are usually made for .weighing' largeweights, and the pivots or bearings are apt to work loose, if not bendorbreak, unless held by more than one end of the pivot. To obviate thisdifii cnlty, I- made, in my patent of July 12, 1864, the respectivepivots, forcboth the'fulcrum and the weight,'.in one and the same pieceof metal, the fulcrum-pivots on the outside of the head, and th'e'weightpivot on the inside; but this construction is not only diflicult'tomake, and liable to inaccurate adjustment by reason of the warping orspringing ofthe metal in prbcess of hardening,'hut also necessitates theweakening 'of the beam bymaking through the'headgo large a hole as isnecessary for passing through it so large a piece of metal. Now, inorder to obviate all these'difiiculties, I makeeach of the outsidefulcrum-pivots of only.a small-sized piece of steel, cl, and support it,throughoutits entire length, by'a cast-iron projection, d, from theoutside of the beam-head. This mode of construction is the morenecessary for hollow-headed beams, because the making of the two sidesof the hollow head of suflicient thickness to'hold in the pivots firmlywould require such an amount of metal in the head as to unfit it foruse, especiallyas a portable scale-beam.

By combining therfixed studor bearing a with the platform link-bearerf,I am enabled to make a strong scale of a very shallow depth, to leavethe platform suspended freely, butwithout so much motion as to requirecheck-rods, and also .to cover all the machinery from dust, water, &c.,by the platform, items of great impor tance, especially in large outof-door soales, exposed to snow and ice as well as dirt.'

' In using'the hollow-headed scale-beam as a platform or primary beam orlever, in constructing platform scales made with compound levers, Iconnect such hollow-head scale-beamsnith' any known device which willpermit of oscillation, either of the beam itself, or of theweig'htplacedon' it, or both. Thus, if it is designed that the weight and theplatform on which the weight rests shall oscillate, then that weight isplaced on some device operating like the link-beurersf', whether thatlinkbearer an'd linkf are connected with the inside pivot e, and thebeam rests on the stud a, by means of the outside pivots, d dC-orwhether the arrangement isreversed, and the beam rests on a 'stud, bymeans of an inside pivot, while the link-bearer and links are attachedto the scales, substantially as described.

outside pivots, in which, latter case the relative positions of suchinside and outside pivots would usually be exchanged. If it is intendedthat the beam (when used as a platform-lever in a compound-platformscale) alone shall oscillate, then the fulcra or pivots d d will usuallybe suspended in links or other vibrating=devices, and the weight orplatform will rest on the inside pivot without the intervention of thelinkf or other vibrating device; but, if it is desirable to have boththe lever and the weightto oscillate, then both the inside and theoutside pivots will have vibrating-devices,

When desirable to have the lovers oscillate, as in case when the studshappen to stand on a yielding foundation, or on one not entirely firm,then, in order to obviate any danger of the stud yielding, and therebycausing a. pinching or cramping of the pivots in the beam, I invert thecombined link-bearer and link, and use two sets of them in .suchinverted position, instead of the fixed stud a, for the outside pivots dd to hang in. I then use either a'link-bearer and link in an uprightposition on the inner pivot, e, or I use an inverted fixed stud of anyknown form,at will. t p

i 'Inotice thesefea'tures thus definitely, because either the platformor the levers, or both, in a. platform-scale, must be susceptible ofoscillation or the scale will not act, and because the methods ofsecuring such oscillation are too numerous to be shown. I

I do not claim the invention of the hollow-head scale-beam, nor its useas a graduated vibrating-beam, but not limiting myself to any particularmode of construction of hollow-headed scale-beams themselves, or oftheir attachments, (fitting them for use as primary levers inconstructing compound platform scales,) nor to any mode of combiliingthem, as primary beams, with other beams, of similar or dissimilarconstruct-ion, for producing such scales- 1. Adapting hollow headedscale-beams, of any known constnuctiom-to use as primary levers in thecon st'ruction of compound-lever platform-scales, substantially asherein described. 7

2. I-claim the use of the combined link-bearerf and linkf, in theconstruction and operation of platform- JOEL F. KEELER.

Witnesses:

A. S. NICHOLSON, W. N. Pnxr'ou.

